MARROWSTONE ISLAND — A management plan for Mystery Bay was recognized with a national award that lauded its ability to accommodate several different functions in a single aquatic area.
The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators presented its Waterways Management Award to the Mystery Bay Management Plan Team at its 53rd annual conference in Mobile, Ala., on Monday.
The award will be presented locally this coming Monday to planning team members at the Nordland Garden Club at the end of Garden Club Road.
The presentation will be at 7 p.m.
The plaque will be on display at the Jefferson County Department of Community Development in Port Townsend.
In 2009, the state Department of Health closed the beds in much of the bay during boating season because the number of boats exceeded federal standards for commercial shellfish safety, the state Department of Natural Resources said.
The shellfish beds were reopened after the plan’s six elements were found to be a workable and sustainable solution.
These elements included permitting boat moorage, removal of unpermitted buoys, exceptions for local residents, management of transient boaters, establishing an ongoing monitoring plan and modifying the process to adapt to changing conditions.
Twenty local entities, including the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, three tribes, several local businesses and the Army Corps of Engineers, worked together to develop the plan.
The plan, which was finished in 2010, had been initially developed to address the problem of too many boats anchored or moored near shellfish beds in the bay.
Compromises included establishing a no-anchor zone in certain parts of the bay that were prime for shellfish harvesting, according to Brady Scott, a DNR manager who helped pull the plan together.
“Receiving recognition by a national boating organization certainly puts an exclamation point on the success of the collaborative planning process,” Scott said.
“It resulted in both the protection of commercial shellfish and continued use of Mystery Bay by boaters.”
The plan consists of a memorandum of understanding signed by all 20 stakeholders, which limits the use of boats as they interfere with fishing operations and can cause pollution that can contaminate the harvested shellfish.
Mystery Bay shellfish harvesting is important to the county’s economy, since 11 of 26 local shellfish companies operate out of that location, representing sales of $7 million annually, according to the agreement.
The monitoring of boats from May 1 to Sept. 30 is done in conjunction with water quality level testing and restricts the number of boats according to those results.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
